Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Miller and Condon 7-31-25 Hour 1

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Miller and Condon 7-31-25 Hour 1 · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:15
Hi, good afternoon. Welcome, Miller and Condon on a
0:19
Thursday, the Iowa Sports Radio Network, Ken Miller with you for
0:22
the next couple of hours. Trent remains on vacation
0:26
through Monday. Here's what's coming up on the
0:27
program here today with myself, Tyler Allen producing, grateful
0:31
to that. Thank you to Will Baumgartner.
0:33
We got to thank at the end of the program yesterday, filled in
0:36
produced Tuesday and Wednesday. So we'll thank you.
0:39
But Tyler Allen back behind the glass here today on the program
0:43
in 15 minutes. Bama, Bob, we'll take a look at
0:46
our final two conferences. We've done the Big 12, the Group
0:50
of five, the Big 10 on deck today.
0:52
We'll squeeze the ACC and the SEC in together.
0:57
Talk a little bit about those two, how we see them.
0:59
Not that we are going to be held to those predictions here on the
1:02
final day of July, but just to talk a little college football
1:06
and do so with my friend, my twice weekly, our twice weekly
1:10
colleague coming up here at 12:15.
1:17
And then Mitch Waltas will join me.
1:21
Chris Jones in the spotlight today, boys firing all the
1:25
bullets at once as he not started with Andy Reid, then
1:28
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey and Chris Jones.
1:31
The sound from today. So that will be coming up here
1:35
in about 45 minutes. Papa John's throughout the state
1:40
of Iowa makes that possible. The Donaldsons based here in
1:43
central Iowa. 1:00 As I've done did previously on in the week, I
1:48
brought Sam Burnaby on the longtime general manager year 42
1:53
for Sam as the GM of the Iowa Cubs.
1:57
And I wanted to do something similar to a guy that I haven't
2:00
spoken with on the radio in a long time, Bill Fenley, the
2:02
women's basketball coach up at Iowa State.
2:05
He was spent at his post since 1995.
2:08
Hard to believe, hard to believe I've seen.
2:10
I mean, he's the only coach still in this spot and since I
2:13
started doing this 29 plus years ago.
2:16
So he has stood the test of time.
2:17
And obviously a lot of credit goes to Bill Fennelly, who
2:21
literally his first games at Iowa State and he'll tell us
2:24
this. I'm I'll tell me this.
2:25
I'm guessing it was played in front of, well, maybe not
2:28
dozens, but hundreds of people, literally hundreds of people.
2:31
And if you follow the Cyclone sports programs, you know what
2:35
Bill Findley has done to that program.
2:36
So I'm going to talk to him about that and I look forward to
2:39
doing so catching up with him. Maybe squeeze a question or two
2:42
at the end about his Redbirds. He's a pretty hardcore Saint
2:45
Louis Cardinal fan, if memory serves.
2:48
Well, Speaking of that division, we'll take a look at what the
2:51
Cubs are doing. David Kaplan was in Milwaukee
2:53
yesterday in American Family Insurance Field.
2:56
So he was, you know, kept them to 10 minutes.
3:00
And I had to tape the piece prior to his time slot of 1:00.
3:04
So I wanted to ask him to come back on here today, give us a
3:07
few more minutes. By then, perhaps the Cubs will
3:11
have made a a splash. They've made a move.
3:14
Not sure you consider Soroka, Soroka, Soroka, Michael Soroka
3:19
comes over from the Nationals. He was with the White Sox of
3:22
memory serves, but he's a depth piece.
3:25
He's a depth piece. I'm I'm guessing they'll plug
3:27
him in right now at the five spot once Tayon gets back and
3:32
Colin Ray would become a long reliever if if needed.
3:36
But we're waiting for the other shoe to drop with the Cubs.
3:39
Quite honestly, I thought there would have been some movement by
3:41
now. A lot of their targets, Suarez,
3:43
the Diamondbacks third baseman, he's now off the market.
3:47
He goes to Seattle, Boise, Seattle.
3:49
They are putting some bats in that line up, nailers there, and
3:54
now Suarez is there. That's a lot of power into that
3:57
lineup. This is a really good team that
3:58
can pitch. So we'll see the Mariners and
4:01
one of the teams that I think are getting significantly better
4:05
as we inch our way to trade deadline, which is 5:00 our
4:09
time, 5:00 central trades have to be turned in.
4:13
Not that we haven't seen in the past a trade be announced after
4:16
that. It's just clearing the clearing
4:19
house. We want to call it that, but
4:20
Major League Baseball offices. But the 5:00 is the trade
4:24
deadline for today. And we'll see if the Cubs have
4:27
another move up their sleeve. We don't know if if they do or
4:31
if they don't. Obviously, they want another
4:33
starting pitcher. Mackenzie Gore might fit the
4:36
bill there. They were in on Shane Bieber.
4:39
He's a Blue Jay boy. I love that trade.
4:41
As a Blue Jays fan, Bieber, who's been that means coming off
4:44
Tommy John surgery. So tap the brakes a little bit.
4:47
Miller, I get that. But his rehab starts have been
4:50
unbelievable. Cy Young winner, got another
4:53
year of club control. If they want to, you know, keep
4:56
him aboard and exercise that clause in his contract.
5:00
So I love the move, but he's not going to be a Cub.
5:02
He's going to be a Blue Jays. And the Cubs need, they want,
5:05
they want another starting pitcher.
5:07
It sounds as though all the closers that may have been, you
5:11
know, dangled out there and the Cubs may have kicked the tires
5:14
on. They're elsewhere.
5:16
I don't know if there's another big name closer out there that
5:19
moved. Mason Miller was the shocker
5:21
here earlier today. The Padres, man, they are all
5:24
in. And with the Dodgers circling,
5:28
the dream may be a little over the top, but let's be honest,
5:31
they've not been good. The Dodgers have not been good
5:33
as of late, especially. You know who's had a terrible
5:36
month? Shohei Ohtani.
5:38
What is going on with Shohei Ohtani?
5:41
What he's done His last month has been alarming, to say the
5:45
very least. The numbers that he put up.
5:47
Here's what he's done. This is as of yesterday, the
5:52
series in Cincinnati. He was one for 13 in his last 27
5:56
games dating back to June the 28th.
5:59
The no doubt about it. Can't bet enough on him.
6:02
It's a sure thing. MVP of the National League,
6:05
really. He's batting $1.88 over the last
6:08
month. Struck out 36 times in those 27
6:12
games. We saw him leave the game early
6:14
yesterday as a pitcher. I stayed in the game to DH.
6:17
But you know, he's won for 13 against Cincinnati and that
6:20
ballpark where the balls usually fly out.
6:22
So point being, when it comes to the Padres and the Giants going
6:26
the other way, the Diamondbacks never getting, you know, out of
6:29
the starting blocks, if you will, and the Rockies are the
6:32
Rockies. All of a sudden, this W division
6:35
of the National League, it's not the foregone conclusion that the
6:38
Dodgers are home free. In fact, the Padres are only
6:40
three games out. Dodgers are everybody's team
6:44
too, no doubt about it. Just don't even need to play the
6:47
regular season. Let's Fast forward to October,
6:49
blah, blah, blah, with all the money that they spent.
6:53
But he's still got to play him as we finding out.
6:55
And it's not gone well for the for the Dodgers.
6:59
There's still, you know, 63 up and 46 down.
7:01
But the Padres are all in as they have made some significant
7:05
moves to that bullpen. One of those moves not in the
7:08
bullpen, but you Darvish, he was unbelievable yesterday.
7:11
I watched him blank the Mets through 7 strong innings.
7:14
We'll see if he can, you know, continue down that path.
7:17
But the Padres are better. The Padres can hit and they got
7:22
a couple of guys going to the back of that bullpen that'll
7:24
look out below because Mason Miller coming in there, he
7:28
automatically, I would assume, takes the role of closer from
7:32
Robert Suarez. Cease is still there.
7:36
They bring in another pitcher from Oakland in that deal.
7:38
They gave up a lot. But that's a big, big move, I
7:41
think, for the Padres as they try to close the gap and maybe
7:44
they already have on the Dodgers because arises arises.
7:47
He's a hitting machine, as you know.
7:49
Gavin Sheets, nice player. Jackson Merrill, terrific
7:51
player. Bogarts kind of spinning his
7:54
wheels a little bit. Who am I?
7:55
Mr. Fernando Tatis, as good as they come.
7:57
So I think the Padres going to be a tough out.
8:00
I think Seattle is going to be a tough out, and we're waiting for
8:03
the Cubs if they are going to make a big move.
8:06
The Mets have made some moves. They've shored up their bullpen.
8:09
Ryan Helsley goes from the Cardinals, the Cardinals closer,
8:13
he's now, I guess, the setup man Tyler Rogers, the sidearm
8:18
pitcher, he goes from San Francisco.
8:20
He's a Met now. So they're kind of starting to
8:23
see that, you know, you give the Royals credit back in the day,
8:27
back in what, 14 and 15 when they had that, you know,
8:30
lockdown 6789 inning guys that you could essentially, you know,
8:36
you get 5 innings out of your starter.
8:38
So Helsley, if he's with the with Edwin Diaz and I'm not sold
8:45
on Diaz, he's been hit and miss. I think he's kind of been a hair
8:49
on fire since he came back from the injury.
8:51
But with Helsley going over there, they're very good.
8:54
Sanga, Manaya, Peterson, Montas, not bad to go along with that
9:00
line up. So trade day has been
9:02
fascinating so far. We've got five days to go.
9:05
We'll see how it works out. Let's get Benny in here real
9:07
quick. He wants to talk some baseball
9:09
and then Bama Bob will talk about the ACC and the SCC.
9:15
Let's get the Benny. Hello, Benny.
9:17
Good afternoon, Kenny. Quick thing, both the guys that
9:21
you mentioned from San Diego will probably both be on their
9:25
way out after they traded their best prospects and all of
9:28
baseball to get their lockdown closer that's controllable for
9:31
four years. Ranger Suarez is a great closer.
9:34
I think he led the National League up until this point, but
9:39
he's going to opt out of his deal at the end of this year.
9:41
That's why they protected themselves, went out and got
9:44
Mason Miller because he's going to opt out because he's not
9:47
going to take $10 million for the next two years that he has
9:51
as option. So and Dylan sees is as good as
9:54
gone. Where is he going?
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Wherever they can get something for him.
9:59
Why do they want to run him out of town so badly?
10:02
Because he's been, he's pitched horrible.
10:04
He's got an ERA almost close to five.
10:06
It's. Close.
10:06
Yep, you're right. And he just and he just got you.
10:10
But you know what he does, Benny?
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He teases you as much as anybody because you can watch him pitch,
10:16
you know, 3 innings, he's unhittable.
10:18
And then all of a sudden he just explodes.
10:20
They keep him in and he's unhittable again.
10:22
Yeah, frustrating. Frustrating.
10:24
Yeah, he's got all the. Talent in the world?
10:27
He has not pitched up to it this year.
10:29
They just added fears and they can be a fourth or fifth starter
10:32
serviceable. They might get Michael King
10:34
back. We already know they got Duke
10:36
you Darvish back. He's great.
10:39
That has been solid at the top of the rotation.
10:42
They feel like they can afford. And if you look what they've
10:44
done over the last two years, they blew up the farm system to
10:48
go get Juan Soto. You know, they that didn't
10:51
workout. No, they gave.
10:52
Up the word they gave. Yeah, yeah.
10:54
And now they gave up their prospect and Leo Debreeze.
10:58
He was #3 in all of baseball, right?
11:00
Yeah, exactly #3 in all of baseball, they gave him up to to
11:05
get their lockdown closer. That's arbitration.
11:07
All of both. They have four more years of
11:09
them, but they've got to replenish their farm system that
11:12
they've depleted over the last three years.
11:14
And Dylan sees if they can get a piece back or Suarez, because
11:18
everybody needs relief pitching, they can maybe replenish it and
11:21
still be competitive at the Major League level.
11:23
That's what AJ Preller does. No, he goes for it.
11:26
I got to give him credit for it. They fill the ballpark each and
11:29
every day and he goes for it. Bambi.
11:31
Bambi, I have to go. Benny, I have to get Bama.
11:34
So thank you for chiming, ninja buddy.
11:36
Good to talk to you. You're the same.
11:38
Harrison Bader from the Twins is apparently on his way to the
11:42
Phillies, per Jeff Passan. So this fine next 5 hours, it
11:48
could be fascinating watching this all breakdown.
11:51
Are the Cubs going to be able to make a move?
11:53
We shall see. Owen Casey was not called up
11:55
yesterday. That I think speaks volumes.
11:58
They went with boy Estero. So boy, what a hit, big hit he
12:00
had in that ball game as he goes to left center and drives in to
12:04
drive in two or three. I drove a couple anyways, but a
12:08
huge hit. But when Owen Casey doesn't get
12:11
the call, that tells you that they're not going to call him up
12:13
for a day and then ship him out. So it looked for him to be on
12:17
the move. Look for Bama Bob to join me
12:19
next. We'll talk about the ACC and the
12:21
SEC when we come back. Mitch Holtis is going to join
12:25
me. Chris Jones in the spotlight
12:27
today. He's the focus of our interview.
12:29
Bill Fenley and David Kaplan in our number 2.
12:32
Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
12:40
I'm Miller Congton, Welcome back.
12:41
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Mitch Holt is coming up about
12:45
12:45-ish. Chris Jones, the focus of
12:49
today's conversation. Mitch Holt is coming up.
12:51
Our daily Chiefs training camp report.
12:54
Bama. Bob joins me to look at the ACC
12:56
and the SEC. Bama, I'm looking at the clock
12:58
and know we have no chance to get through both of them and
13:02
just realized that we we never even brought Notre Dame into the
13:07
conversation. Probably deserved to be spoken
13:09
about at some point. So you have 10 minutes tomorrow
13:12
morning early in the show. OK, cool.
13:15
So let's get to it. Let's roll up our sleeves and
13:18
we'll save Notre Dame for tomorrow because we we should
13:20
focus on them a little bit. ACC first of all, Clemson is I
13:24
think in most people's mind, the favorite when it comes to
13:29
Clemson. What Dabo is building here this
13:31
year, rebuilding, I guess they've been to the mountain
13:33
before, to the top of the mountain.
13:35
And he did something a little different this year.
13:37
Bam. And for the first time, he
13:38
actually dipped his toe into the transfer portal and brought over
13:43
a couple of transfers trying to solidify that that roster even
13:47
more. So we both love club Nick, the
13:49
quarterback. This has to be it for him.
13:52
We kind of been expecting, at least I have that that rise to
13:56
the top of any quarterback conversation for last couple of
13:58
years hasn't gotten there. I'm banking on this year being
14:01
the year. What about the Tigers of
14:03
Clemson, who opened with LSU? Hello.
14:07
Yeah, that's a nice game to start out, isn't it?
14:09
And that's, I think that's a home game, home game for them.
14:13
So the Battle of Death Valleys, I mean, that's that'll just be,
14:17
I don't think that's ever happened before.
14:19
So love it. Yeah.
14:21
Listen, they got into the playoffs last year.
14:22
You can say they snuck in. They won the ACC kind of really
14:27
weren't overly competitive with Texas.
14:29
I think the challenge this year is, you know, when the
14:31
conference again, I do think they're they're clear.
14:34
They're in my mind, they're clear favorites.
14:37
Not really a lot, I don't think in their way.
14:40
They don't play Miami in the regular season.
14:42
They dodge that bullet. They get Florida State at home.
14:46
They do have I'll tell you though, you know, fun little
14:49
game October 4th and we'll we'll know a lot more by them, but
14:53
they got to go to. Chapel Hill.
14:55
Right now they open, North Carolina, opens with TCU, then
14:59
they have Charlotte, Richmond, they go to Central Florida, who
15:01
you would hope they could beat, and then a bye week.
15:05
So yeah, you know, Clemson goes there off of a bye week as well.
15:09
So I think that's a little sneaky game, but I think the
15:12
challenge for Clemson this year is to increase their CD, if you
15:17
will. So they're not like, you know,
15:19
one of the now they were a conference champion but or
15:21
whatever. But I mean, they they just got,
15:23
they got hammered a little bit, but.
15:26
They lost three games going into it.
15:28
You're. Right, they did.
15:29
And you know, they God, if memory serves, they, they want
15:32
to like a last second field goal or something that that would
15:35
have kept them out and SMU got in as well as them.
15:39
And I think that knocked Alabama out along the way.
15:42
But yeah, I think I think there's a clear favorite.
15:44
I like the schedule. Not terribly tough.
15:46
They do have back-to-back Rd. games.
15:48
They go to North Carolina and they go to Boston College.
15:50
The rest of it, I mean, fun game at the end of the year against
15:54
South Carolina in Columbia. So that that'll be.
15:57
Fun. What a game was that last year?
16:00
Bam, you remember that game? Last year, I do remember that
16:02
game last year and it was a three.
16:05
Point game of memory serves. It was a great game.
16:08
It was an important game. And I think that's the one that,
16:12
you know, South Carolina is like, hey, why not?
16:15
Why is nobody talking about that for the player after that?
16:18
So but yeah, but they book in their season a little bit in the
16:22
middle. They do get SMU at home.
16:24
No Miami, no excuses. Miami has a.
16:27
Little bit rougher. Schedule they do.
16:29
They open with Notre Dame, that's at home.
16:31
They do get Florida at home. That's a tough game.
16:34
They go to Florida State, they go to SMU.
16:37
So those are two of the other favorites in that league.
16:39
I think, you know, they do. They get Louisville at home.
16:41
So yeah, it's cleansing for me. There's other teams that could
16:45
win. I guess you can only get a game
16:47
of the year. I'm I'm really intrigued by
16:49
that. That nor, you know, Carolina
16:51
Clemson game. I think the other one obviously
16:53
is Miami at SMU. That's late.
16:55
That could be for a spot in the championship game that Clemson
17:00
does what we think they will. Then that game late in the year,
17:03
which is where is that at? You know, that's that's in
17:07
November, that's at SMU. That could be important game to
17:10
see who gets into that conference championship game.
17:12
Let me throw a school at you that's getting a lot of love
17:15
when I when I hear or read stuff about the the ACC, Georgia Tech
17:21
with Brent Key, who we both like.
17:22
We both love the quarterback. Hayes King, terrific player,
17:25
7:00 and 6:00 last year. Defence still may be the
17:29
question mark, but man, they've got some dudes.
17:31
They can run the football. I think they've got 1000 yard
17:33
rusher returning. Obviously King, this is his
17:37
final go round. If there is a dark horse in the
17:40
ACC, could you buy Georgia Tech? I could and, and you know what?
17:45
I'm buying it off of Ken. One of the absolute best games
17:49
of the year. Was that game against Georgia in
17:50
that and it was 7-8 overtimes a game, yes.
17:54
I don't know. Went to like one in the morning,
17:56
whatever it was. Yeah.
17:59
And that was. You're right, it was 8 overtime,
18:01
8 overtime. Oh, God.
18:02
And it was, it was just no fluke.
18:04
You know, it was line up and they they just gave it to
18:07
Georgia. They absolutely did it to
18:09
Georgia physically, which I didn't think was possible for
18:13
them. So, yeah, I agree with what
18:15
you're saying. Clemson goes to Atlanta.
18:17
That's their kind of Georgia Tech's conference opener.
18:20
Now listen, there's going to be more Clemson.
18:22
I don't, I don't know if that game is on campus or if it's in
18:24
the Mercedes Dome. It's in the Mercedes Dome.
18:26
It's probably a a disadvantage for Georgia Tech because you
18:30
know, there's going to be 70,000 Clemson fans to 10,000 Georgia
18:34
Tech fans and they're going to have the crowd anyway.
18:36
But that's a game that I think they'll circle early on.
18:40
But yeah, after that, again, they don't play Miami, right.
18:44
So yeah, I could see that as a dark horse because I'm really
18:46
looking at it outside of Clemson.
18:49
They got Wake Forest, you know, black Virginia Tech, who knows?
18:52
Duke is not Duke anymore, you know, Syracuse and at NC State,
18:58
at Boston College and Pitt, it's pretty manageable.
19:00
No Louisville, you know, no Miami, so no SNU.
19:06
I mean, that's about as good as it gets in that conference.
19:08
So yeah, I think you're on to something.
19:09
I can see that. And again, going off the
19:12
schedule, going off the returners, going off the coach
19:15
and how they play Georgia, I think we know what to expect for
19:17
them and that that is not really a physical league.
19:19
So if they can line up and knock people around, yeah, they got a
19:21
chance. Let's talk about North Carolina
19:23
for a minute and, and kind of what we, what we expect.
19:26
Obviously the, the, the game on Labor Day is going to be off the
19:30
charts, right? TCU and, and North Carolina,
19:34
it's the only game going on. So everybody's going to be
19:37
watching it. What do you expect?
19:39
What do, what's fair expectations for year #1 and
19:43
maybe one and only, you never know with Belichick, what,
19:47
what's a fair expectation coming off a six and seven-year last
19:51
year? Do they need to?
19:52
If they if they win eight games, would that satisfy the fans
19:56
there? I think so.
19:58
I think the fans are just kind of, you know, whipped into a
20:01
frenzy a little bit because of the, you know, you've got Bill
20:04
Belichick as your coach now. Is it, is it peak Bill
20:07
Belichick? No, it's not.
20:09
I mean 73. Years old and he doesn't have
20:11
Tom Brady. He doesn't have Tom Brady his
20:13
first time ever in college, right.
20:16
He's kind of surrounded himself with familiar faces with his.
20:20
I think it's two of his sons are are on the staff.
20:22
And I think, you know, Lombardi came in from the from the
20:26
Patriots to kind of run the program.
20:29
So yeah, there's just so much I know.
20:31
But there's there's you're right.
20:32
I mean, there's going to be that game against TC Monday night
20:35
stand alone Labor Day. I mean that we talked about it
20:38
in terms of Hoover's, is there going to be millions of eyeballs
20:43
on that? That is, that is a game last
20:45
year that no, I don't think nobody would have watched.
20:47
It would not have really registered other than it would
20:49
have been an opener on, you know, Monday night.
20:52
Now it is appointment television for sure.
20:55
You know, they go Charlotte, Richmond, I mentioned that
20:57
Clemson game. I think, I think they should,
20:59
they could win eight games. I think they maybe should win 8
21:02
games. You know, they, they brought in
21:04
a quarterback from South Alabama.
21:06
So he's got a guy there. They, they don't have a lot on
21:09
defense. I was reading.
21:10
But, but what he does have is the, the, the returning depth on
21:16
defense is in the secondary. And I think that's important
21:19
because he will, you know, he'll figure out the scheme up front.
21:22
You know, he'll, he'll figure out what to do.
21:24
I think, you know, he knows a little bit about the defense,
21:28
right? But yeah, I mean, you know, they
21:31
do have to go to Cal. That's a weird Friday night
21:34
game. But that's coming off a bye week
21:36
after Clemson, you know, Virginia, Syracuse again for
21:39
them. No Miami, no SMU, no Louisville.
21:42
I mean, it's that's got to be eight wins.
21:45
I think, yeah, it's going to be in.
21:47
The ballroom? Yep.
21:48
Yeah. How many playoff teams in the
21:50
ACC 2? Maximum two, yeah.
21:54
And I think we could be just looking at one this year.
21:57
You know, 2 got in last year because of SMU.
22:00
SMU is kind of the wild card for me.
22:01
They got Jenny back. You know, their schedule last
22:05
year was pretty soft. They do have Miami, but again,
22:10
and then you go back to Florida State or I'm sorry, North
22:12
Carolina, You know, look at the people they don't play.
22:15
They don't play Florida State, they don't play Miami, they
22:18
don't play Louisville. I mean, they don't play SMUI
22:22
mean, you know, SMU. This is kind of an odd schedule.
22:25
Somebody, I haven't really analyzed it, but somebody's
22:27
getting screwed because you got all these teams that aren't
22:29
playing the top teams aren't playing each other, some bottom
22:32
teams getting screwed by playing all of them.
22:34
So, but I think SMU is the wild card.
22:37
I think only get one this year. I don't I don't think they're
22:39
going to get 2. I think Miami is going to slip a
22:41
little bit without Ward, although do you have Carson
22:45
Beck? So they've got an ample, you
22:46
know, capable replacement for him.
22:50
But yeah, I think, I think they get one.
22:51
That's it. Is there a stadium in the ACC
22:54
you'd like to get to? You know.
22:57
It's going to sound weird. Boston College, Really.
23:00
Chestnut Hill. I think a game in Chestnut Hill
23:02
in October would be cool. I mean, it's a beautiful
23:04
setting. Friday night rain.
23:06
Yeah, they don't care about any college football up there,
23:08
right? But I think the setting would be
23:10
nice. You know, I've been a million
23:13
years ago. I've been to Dope Campbell.
23:14
Not since really they expanded it.
23:16
No real desire to go to Miami or anywhere else.
23:20
You know, maybe Cal, I guess I don't know, but it's kind of a.
23:24
Plenty of good tickets available Bama.
23:26
Yeah, exactly. You know, Lane Stadium will be
23:28
fun, I think with the inner Sandman.
23:30
If it when they're good, that's good.
23:31
But I just for setting I'd I'd say Chestnut Hill.
23:35
We are got 6 minutes left, so let's get to as far as we can in
23:38
the SEC here today. Sure.
23:41
Here's my here's my question when it comes.
23:42
Let's start with Georgia because I just don't know.
23:45
I, I don't, I've got are, are they going to remain as good as
23:51
they've been over the last few years?
23:52
Is this the, you know, kind of a step back?
23:55
Then you got Alabama. What's going to happen there?
23:57
LSU, Does Kelly have to win? Let's start with Georgia.
24:01
Your thoughts on what Georgia is going to have the Bulldogs are
24:04
going to have this year and how difficult it's going to be for
24:07
them to rule the conference? Well, I think the first thing
24:10
they could do to help themselves would be to take all the
24:13
driver's licenses away from their probe players.
24:16
I mean, Ken, it is. And it's getting a lot of run
24:20
down here, I promise you. I bet.
24:22
It is unbelievable the number of moving violations these kids
24:26
have had over the last two or three years, just reckless
24:28
driving, speeding, you know, all this type of thing.
24:31
Of course, then of course, the horrendous accident, you know,
24:34
they claim some lies. So, you know, start there, but
24:39
look, Garner Stockton is coming in the the schedule.
24:42
You look at it again, we know what Kirby Smart is.
24:44
It's it's a it's a reload. It's not usually a rebuild.
24:48
They get Alabama at home, they get Texas at home.
24:51
That's a pretty ticket. By the way, you know Floridas
24:55
neutral site and they get Ole Miss coming to Athens.
24:59
So that's favorable. What are the road games OK at
25:02
Tennessee? At Tennessee, At Auburn.
25:05
At Mississippi. State and then Florida.
25:08
For them, Florida is a road game because they've got the four
25:12
home games. So Florida counts as one of the
25:15
road games even though it's not really a road game.
25:16
So yeah, pretty manageable. It is out of out of conference,
25:20
you know, Marshall, Austin T and then you know the game at
25:22
Georgia Tech at the end. That's the one in Mercedes been
25:26
stated, but look, they're going to be right there.
25:29
I mean, they they just are. There's so many there's a lot of
25:31
questions. They're kind of questioning
25:34
Stockton, but you know, look at that schedule.
25:36
Tennessee's got a new quarterback.
25:38
Alabama's not going to quarterback.
25:39
Auburn has a new quarterback. Ole Miss has a new quarterback.
25:43
Florida has lag way, but he's hurt.
25:45
We know. Texas kind of has a new
25:46
quarterback. Texas kind of has one, but they
25:49
got a pretty. Good.
25:49
Yeah, I'm with you. He's not proven yet, but we
25:53
think he's going to be pretty good.
25:54
So listen, they're going to be right there at the end, 10 and
25:57
two, one of the favorites minimum.
26:00
I think because all the home games, you know, again, Alabama
26:03
at home, they don't that's that's a hard place to go in and
26:05
win. It is just hard to go in and win
26:08
there. And you know, I think they're
26:10
going to wind up, they got a couple of warmups before they go
26:12
to Knoxville. So I think that's going to help
26:14
them there. Let's go to Texas, where,
26:17
speaking in week #1 Ohio State will host Texas and Arch
26:21
Manning. Buckle up, say in V Manning in
26:24
that one. Sarkeesian There's a lot of
26:27
folks that think that this is Texas's year, kind of like
26:30
Franklin when it comes to Penn State.
26:31
I just can't bet Sarkeesian to win an Addy.
26:34
We'll see. It could be the year.
26:35
They're loaded, as we know, and their schedule's pretty much,
26:39
you know, in their favor. Bam, As far as Rd. games, you
26:41
have the Georgia games on there. But other than that, it's not
26:44
the most daunting SEC schedule I've ever seen.
26:48
It's not they, they start out in Columbus as you mentioned, then
26:51
they got three cupcakes, San Jose State, UTEP, Sam Houston at
26:54
home by a week, go to Florida, right?
26:56
And then you got Oklahoma and neutral, Dallas neutral site
27:00
again, that is. That's a home game for them this
27:04
year, technically, because they do have four true conference Rd.
27:07
games. They go to Florida, they go to
27:09
Kentucky. Good luck.
27:10
Wildcats. Yeah, really, They're going to
27:12
be bad. By the way, did you know that
27:14
Mark Stoops is now the most tenured coach in the SEC?
27:17
No, come on. Is he?
27:18
Really he is 13 years. He's he's the leader now.
27:23
Crazy, isn't it? I don't believe second is, but I
27:25
think second might be it could be trick what the Missouri.
27:29
So, I mean, anyway, yeah, I think the schedule is favorable.
27:35
They do end at home with A&M. Massive.
27:38
Yeah, You know, A&M could be, you know, they could be a
27:42
sleeper team. I just don't know.
27:43
I mean, I had such high hopes for them last year with that
27:46
Texas game and and just laid an egg and faded again.
27:48
But yeah, I think, I think Texas, you know, the Georgia
27:52
game is going to be rough. I think they are a clear
27:55
favorite to get to the SEC championship game.
27:58
And they're if they don't make a playoff, it's going to be an
28:00
upset. There's no way they don't.
28:02
I think they're a playoff team just by, you know, putting the
28:04
ball on the tee. They're going to win 910 games.
28:07
So that's going to get them in. Thelma, we didn't get to
28:10
Oklahoma. We didn't get to LSU, We didn't
28:12
get to Old Miss. A&M didn't spend any time there.
28:16
Florida didn't spend any time Alabama, Alabama forgot about
28:20
not forgot about them, but didn't include them.
28:22
So I don't think we'll be recapping tomorrow.
28:25
I think we'll be finishing the SEC and doing a little a little
28:28
bit on Notre Dame. I should have known better to
28:30
try and put two conferences together.
28:31
You when you and I start talking college football, you know,
28:35
what's 1 game in the SEC just just jumps off the pages.
28:38
What in the how in the world did this happen?
28:41
Old Miss and Washington State. There's an out of the blue
28:45
Yonder game, right? Yeah, right in the middle.
28:48
Of the right, the middle of the year.
28:49
That had to be a reschedule of something, I don't know what,
28:52
but that had to be one of those that, you know, somebody dropped
28:56
out of a game or something. I don't know specifics, but
28:59
yeah, that is. How about that the palooze down
29:01
to the? Grove.
29:03
That's a road trip. It's a direct flight from
29:05
Spokane to Oxford. 30 seconds before we have to go to get
29:10
Mitch on on time. What kind of years?
29:12
We'll spend more time on Ole Miss tomorrow.
29:14
But it is what's the word down there on Ole Miss?
29:16
Are they going to be good? They won 10 games last year.
29:19
Can they? They would did 9 in conference,
29:21
they win 10 in conference. Whatever.
29:23
Yeah, are they? What's the buzz?
29:27
The buzz is kind of a wait and see without Dart.
29:30
There's a lot of confidence in Kiffin.
29:32
He, you know, you know kind of what you're going to get with
29:34
him. Offense is going to be good.
29:37
He's improved the defense, he's improved the running game.
29:39
Now they did lose a lot. They got a new quarterback and
29:43
you just never know until you put him under center.
29:45
The schedule is not overly daunting.
29:48
They do go to Athens, but you know, outside of that it's it's
29:51
they go to Lexington. They do pretty salty.
29:55
Three weeks, right? You mentioned the Washington
29:57
State game. After that they go to Athens,
30:00
then they go to Norman and then South Carolina comes to office.
30:03
That's probably going to make a break this season right there.
30:05
They win two of those three. Somehow they're going to have a
30:08
good year. I think they drop you two of
30:10
those 3. Then they're they're outside the
30:12
playoffs, not a lot non conference wise if you look at
30:15
it, that's going to go wow that they can really point to.
30:18
But they do get LSU at home, Florida, Arkansas and
30:22
Mississippi State, Florida at home.
30:23
So there's there's some chances there, but I think that little
30:26
three-week stretch against at Georgia, at Oklahoma, South
30:31
Carolina, it's going to probably make or break their season.
30:33
In the egg bowls Friday. Now come on, that was tradition.
30:36
Please, I know, stop it there's. Too much going on, right?
30:40
That's Thursday night. Absolutely.
30:41
Night game. Absolutely.
30:43
In a fog. Bring it right, Babel.
30:46
We'll talk to them. In the end zone.
30:47
Come on. Absolutely.
30:49
Early in the show tomorrow, like 5 afternoon, we'll we'll we'll
30:53
have 10 minutes to talk college football with you, OK?
30:56
Got it pal. Thank you.
30:57
Talk to you tomorrow. Yep, you.
30:58
Does Bama, Bob, as we talked a little college football with
31:01
Bama, we'll do more so tomorrow. Mitch Holtis is next, then Bill
31:04
Fennelly, then David Kaplan, Miller and Condon.
31:08
It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network, right?
31:14
Millery Condon, welcome back, Iowa Sports Radio Network.
31:17
Wherever you're listening in the state of Iowa, We are grateful
31:20
that you are. Let's get to our 12:45 daily
31:25
segment. It's the Chiefs daily training
31:26
camp reports Papa John's from the state of Iowa, headquartered
31:30
here in central Iowa. And Mitch Holtis joins me.
31:32
Hello, Mitch, How are you? Doing all right, the break in
31:37
weather was good, the players had the day off today, nobody
31:40
else does, but so a little bit of a catch your breath kind of
31:45
24 to 48 hours before we hit it again in pads tomorrow.
31:49
What's an off day like in training camp?
31:51
They're they're not in Kansas City.
31:53
What's an off day like for, you know, guys, veterans, rookies,
31:57
some of them hang around, some of them just put in extra work.
32:00
What's kind of a typical, if there is such a thing typical as
32:04
an off day in training camp? What's interesting about Saint
32:08
Joseph being so close to Kansas City?
32:10
It's really an hour commute. It would be almost like having
32:14
camp at Iowa State and they were able to come into DES.
32:17
Moines on a day off. So even the guys that have just
32:21
apartments now, a lot of the rookies who maybe don't have
32:25
apartments or, you know, are trying to make the team, they're
32:30
in the dorms and they may get a treatment or look, just crash
32:35
basically because they've been going hard.
32:37
But most of the guys who either have families or homes or
32:41
apartments in Kansas City year round that they they'll.
32:45
Run home. Now they got to be back tonight,
32:48
so you basically get after meetings last night.
32:51
You get less than 24 hours, but since the commute is so short,
32:55
that's one of the advantages of having camp in Saint Joseph.
32:57
You still get the camp dynamic, but you're not far from your
33:00
home base. Well, certainly not a rookie,
33:03
but and he's one of the best in the league in his position.
33:05
And that's Chris Jones, who you know three years ago has 15 1/2
33:09
sacks down to 10 1/2 five last year.
33:11
But Mitch, I think the more you look into it there, there's
33:14
certainly I think a couple of reasons for it.
33:17
A everybody on the offense of line knows that you got to block
33:20
number 95 or he's going to wreck this game.
33:23
He's double teamed. He's triple teamed, but
33:26
apparently, you know, he's, I don't know if he's realized that
33:30
his stats are down and that he's going to get that going to get
33:32
that extra attention, but sounds like he means business this
33:35
offseason. No question.
33:39
And the sax, we almost have to look past them because a lot of
33:43
the production of Carl Office was because of Chris's presence.
33:47
You look at quarterback hits and hurries.
33:50
You also look at it passes, defense.
33:52
He is so good at knocking down passes.
33:54
I mean, he'll forever be remembered.
33:56
For three knockdown. Passes.
33:58
In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 54.
34:00
But I don't know who entered Chris's body.
34:03
It's not like that. He has been a slacker.
34:06
He had to remember the holdout in 2022, that 2023.
34:10
That led to the Lions. Loss in Week 1.
34:14
But this year has been dramatically different.
34:17
He's done extra work. He was at OTAs every day for the
34:21
most part. I think there were two that he
34:23
missed, and it's just been way more of an offseason jump into
34:30
the middle of it and train like crazy for Chris Jones.
34:35
So I ask him about it. I think it's important for us as
34:39
a team to make sure our veteran guys are attentive.
34:42
The ones that here to make sure we lead the younger guys.
34:46
We got a lot of new faces, a lot of new new change of schematics
34:53
and a lot of new individuals. That is going to take a little
34:56
learning and understanding and get used to this defense.
34:59
Play both inside and outside and you've got a guys around you
35:02
that can play both inside. When you get Charles in with you
35:05
or you're flip flopping with him or Mike, how big is that for
35:10
this defense and how big is it for you personally?
35:12
I think it creates an advantage for us as a defense to where I'm
35:17
vulnerable to move inside, outside, and it also helps the D
35:21
line where we can exchange positions.
35:23
You know, we got a guy like Mike Dana who could play three tech
35:26
and also play DN. His primary position is DN got a
35:30
guy like Charles. They can move around.
35:32
So having a lot of versatility along the defensive line is it's
35:37
a good thing for us as a defense because we can exchange guys in
35:40
and out. That's part of the secret sauce
35:44
of Spags as defense, more than any team in the NFL can, more
35:48
than any team in the NFL, the Chiefs do this mixing and
35:52
matching. Well, to do that, you have to be
35:54
able to have guys that could do that and because they can move
35:58
Chris around or Mike Dana or. Mana Hue.
36:01
Or some extent a man who's huge in this discussion huge, I'll
36:06
get to him later. But yes, a man who for sure.
36:09
But yeah, that's a because the quarterback comes a line of
36:12
scrimmage, the lineman comes up, the centre comes up, he's making
36:15
a protection call. Where's 95?
36:18
They're looking, where are the bigs?
36:19
Where are the edge guys? And all of a sudden when you're
36:22
just giving them a different look every time up front, but
36:25
you're not chasing changing personnel that can drive a
36:28
centre making a line call or a quarterback trying to make a
36:32
formation read can drive them crazy.
36:34
You know the the front of the Chiefs when you factor in Jones
36:38
and he mentioned Dana and Carl. After this and Amanihue, this
36:41
got to be one of the best defensive fronts in football for
36:44
my money. How about that?
36:47
Yeah, so I think it's one of the most underrated defensive fronts
36:49
in football. And people just look at stacks.
36:52
They got to look at how that group effects plays.
36:55
I'm going to give you another one where they're so superb, and
36:59
that is defending the tunnel or the bubble screen.
37:01
You think, well, that's not the lineman's job, that's it starts
37:04
with the corner. But they feel so well in the
37:08
lanes that you have to feel that those plays never, knock on
37:12
wood, never become big plays against the Chiefs.
37:15
They're the best in the NFL at defending those.
37:17
Kind of. Wide three man screens and a lot
37:20
of that has to do with mobility, understanding and effort from
37:24
the defensive lineman and they don't get credit for it really.
37:26
No doubt. Who are we going to listen to
37:28
tomorrow? Mitch Holtis.
37:30
Well, I was going to go with Xavier Worthy because I've got
37:33
high hopes about him, but I'm I'm rethinking it now.
37:36
This is Mount Rushmore week and really I'm perplexed, Ken,
37:40
because I'm trying to think who's the next base on Mount
37:43
Rushmore? So we've had Coach Reed, we've
37:46
had Pat and Kels and Chris Jones.
37:48
So I've got to put this one, I've got to give this one some
37:50
thought. So we'll leave it up in the air.
37:53
Go a number of directions right Mcduffie Bucker's automatic.
37:58
A lot of directors. There is, yeah.
38:00
Carla, this is plays out of his mind.
38:03
I love Trey Smith. Creed Humphreys is good at his
38:05
position. Is anybody in the league?
38:08
You got some options, Mitchell. Does she do?
38:10
Thanks for doing this. Before we let you go, let's talk
38:12
about Papa John's. Who's your if I say #12 who you
38:18
thinking of? When Brady.
38:22
Brady All Right 99. Gretzky.
38:26
OK, think of Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky and order a cheeseburger
38:31
pizza, medium cheeseburger pizza from Papa John's.
38:34
It's the Tom Brady Wayne Gretzky 1299 Spectrum medium
38:38
cheeseburger pizza. I don't know if we could find a
38:40
Gretzky Jersey to throw in. Probably not, But just think
38:43
1299 and that's your key. Indeed, it is great stuff,
38:46
buddy, you want to do yourself every day.
38:48
Thank you, Mitch. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
38:51
Thanks bro, drop the fuck. Yes, indeed.
38:53
Can't wait. Mitch Holt is the voice of the
38:55
Kansas City Chiefs. Papa John's throughout the state
38:59
of Iowa make that possible. Bill Fenley going to join me
39:02
next. David Kaplan on what's been a
39:05
quiet day in Cubville. That's hour number two.
39:09
It's next. Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports
39:10
Radio Network.